Villa Park Opens Door To Canvass

Facing the threat of a costly lawsuit, the Villa Park Village Board backed down Monday and approved a permit for door-to-door canvassing by the Illinois Public Action Council.

Robert Creamer, IPAC executive director, asked the board to drop charges against one of his solicitors, who was ticketed on a complaint of Village Trustee Dennis Keating, and allow the group to finish canvassing the town. IPAC began canvassing this month with the apparently incorrect understanding that it had permission to do so, Creamer said.

For the last two years the board has balked at fundraising drives by such groups because some trustees didn`t think it proper to raise money in Villa Park to be spent elsewhere and some believe fundraising expenses are too high.

But Creamer warned that courts have ruled that long delays in granting canvassing rights are illegal and that financial details are not a basis for denial of solicitation by a community. He said such groups have constitutional rights that Villa Park was trampling on.

He cited the July 18 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals in which IPAC protested restricted solicitation hours imposed under an ordinance in Watseka, Ill., and won the case. Watseka, a town of 5,500 people, faces more than $30,000 in fines and legal costs in the case, he said.

Keating, a persistent critic of door-to-door canvassing groups, said he had the solicitor arrested when she came to his house and was abusive and lied about having a permit. He said her choice of his house was deliberate.

Village Atty. Aldo Botti indicated that the charge would be dropped in court. Botti has told board members that they have little legal basis for trying to block such organizations from going door to door.

The board refused last year and this spring to allow Illinois ACORN

(Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to solicit. ACORN solicited last year without approval but this year threatened to sue and last month was given permission to solicit.

In another matter, the village board approved two contracts for its planned $13 million storm-water treatment plant, subject to acceptance of both by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

State and federal grants will pay for about $9 million of the costs.

The board approved a $7.4 million construction contract with Allan Mack & Sons, Orland Park, and a $4.3 million contract with Vincent DiVito Inc., Bloomingdale, for related sewer work.